|
|
List Price: $14.98Amazon.com's Price: $12.99 You Save: $1.99 (13%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Now!
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0829567025529
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Arts Alliance Amer
Manufacturer: Arts Alliance Amer
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Arts Alliance Amer
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 11, 2005
Running Time: 120 minutes
Sales Rank: 31447
Studio: Arts Alliance Amer
Theatrical Release Date: 2004
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Director Xan (daughter of actor John) Cassavetes' Z Channel - A Magnificent Obsession harkens back to a time when a single pay cable TV outlet could offer more quality and variety than all the HBOs and Showtimes of the world combined. Beginning in 1974, Los Angeles' Z Channel, driven by chief programmer Jerry Harvey, presented an astonishingly eclectic array of fare to its subscribers, from mega-hits like Star Wars to obscure classics by directors like Kurosawa, Fellini, Antonioni, Peckinpah, and others. In championing movies like Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, and Oliver Stone's Salvador, especially the uncut versions, Harvey earned the respect of countless filmmakers, a good many of whom (like Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, Alexander Payne, and Robert Altman) are on hand to sing his praises. There are also lots of clips, as well as recollections about the making of those films; in fact, Z Channel - A Magnificent Obsession is more about movies than it is about Harvey and his channel. That's good, because despite his lurid denouement (he killed his wife, then himself, in 1988), Harvey was not an especially interesting man, but rather a single-minded film freak, a guy who used movie dialogue for his own wedding vows. Cassavetes' film is likely to appeal mostly to those who share his passion, if not his mental problems; if nothing else, it will certainly pique your interest in some of the wonderful movies celebrated here. --Sam Graham
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - You Never Know When You're Living in a Golden Age
I first caught this documentary on IFC not knowing what I was seeing but fascinated by the incredible array of clips. Imagine my surprise when this seeming ode to movie-love turned very dark indeed and Jerry Harvey went over the edge killing his wife and himself. I knew I had to chase this movie down and get the whole story.
In some ways the story of Z Channel and Jerry Harvey is the story of cineaphilia going mainstream, from the art house to your house. It was a movie channel programmed ... Read More
Rating: - I wouldn't mine working for the Z Channel
Any true movie lover will squeal in delight while watching Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, a documentary about an obscure television station and the unfortunate end that came to it. The Velvet Underground of movie channels, very few people in the world actually watched Channel Z, but the few that did went on to change the medium itself. Watching the movie will likely bring out three emotions in you: a remembrance of why you love film so much; a disbelief that such a daring channel actually existed; ... Read More
Rating: - Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
Cassavetes's evocative, unsettling portrait sheds as much light on the maverick early days of cable programming as it does on the passionate, deeply troubled Harvey, a man fondly recalled by directors like Robert Altman and Michael Cimino for airing their least-known and riskiest movies. Others, like Quentin Tarantino, Alexander Payne, and Jim Jarmusch, simply enthuse about how eye-opening it was to see exotic fare by Peckinpah and Verhoeven at a time when video rentals were scarce. But Harvey, who murdered ... Read More
Rating: - I wish I was then and there
Watching this extremely interesting, informative and captivating documentary made me jealous of what films were available to LA viewers back in 70s and 80s on the Z Channel, the first American pay-cable station before HBO or Showtime: from Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and "Images" to Fellini, to Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublyov", to Kurosawa's films, to Antonioni's festival, to the full 15 1/2 hours Fassbinder's "Berlin Alexanderplatz", to the restored full version of Michael Cimino's "Heaven's Gate", ... Read More
Rating: - The Z Channel was a huge influence on my life
As a child living in the San Fenando Valley, we were unable to get the Z Channel through most of its heyday. But having divorced parents my weekends were spent at my father's house in the Hollywood Hills where the Z Channel was always a fixture.
Watching this documentary reminded me how much I was shaped by the Z Channel. Being exposed to such a wide variety of films (both "art" and "commercial") opened my mind in ways that transcended simply becoming a film buff. It was one of the many factors ... Read More
|
|
